BEIJING — Chinese police said Saturday that they have detained a suspect after finding five bodies, one of them beheaded, aboard a fishing boat floating off the country’s east coast.
The boat was found Thursday near the city of Zhoushan in Zhejiang province with no one aboard alive, according to a Zhoushan police notice posted online.
One crew member and a life raft were missing.
Police in Zhoushan’s Putuo district said on their microblog that Fang Zhongyue, in his late 40s, was detained Friday night in neighboring Jiangsu province. They said the case was still under investigation.
State media reports said the five victims were aged 31 to 54. The Global Times newspaper cited an unidentified relative of one of the victims as saying one of the bodies had been beheaded.
Violence in China’s vast fishing industry is not uncommon, usually sparked by disputes over money. Pollution and overfishing have led to diminished catches off the Chinese coast, forcing boats to travel farther abroad and bringing them into conflict with foreign authorities and other fishermen.
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